In the short story, "Snakes", by Danielle Evans, the main character, Tara, is a nine year old of interracial (a white mother and black father) parents who is visiting her grandmother for the summer while her highly educated parents take a research trip to Brazil. The main struggle of the story is between the Grandmother (Lydia) and Tara and stems from the Grandmother's inability to control her granddaughter. Initially, the main point of tension is concerning Tara's hair and the fact that neither Lydia nor Tara seem to have the ability to tame or subdue it. This can be seen as Lydia's rejection of her daughter's lifestyle - after all, Tara is the ultimate product of the decisions that her mother has decided to make. Initially, Tara reacts to this as any child would, by acting out - which she does by bonding with her rebellious Caucasian cousin, Allison, who is also rejected by Lydia for her poor grades and behavior (albeit not as harshly as Tara). However, as the cousins' rebellion escalates, Lydia's decision to tell terrifying stories about Anacondas in an attempt to subdue the girls shows that her need to control Tara has moved beyond her desire to dominate her granddaughter's aesthetics, but has transformed into a desire to be able to dictate the physical movement of Tara's body. Tara reacts to this new type of control by literally shutting down. Her terror of the "life threatening" anacondas can also be seen as a manifestation of the emotional distress caused by her Grandmother's attempt to control and subdue her. Tara is also isolated by this new type of control as her cousin, Allison, rejects Tara out of frustration with her reaction to their Grandmother's stories. Allison then begins mirroring Lydia's desire to control Tara as well as mirroring her rejection of behavior that she does not agree with. Immediately after Lydia cute Tara's hair, Allison pushes Tara from a tree, almost killing her. The short story ends years later when it is revealed that it was actually Tara herself that jumped from the tree. Although many readers' response to this moment is likely to be one of anger out of the injustice of the situation, it can also be viewed as a nine year old girl's attempt to regain agency and control of her own body in a situation where both of her family members are attempting to exert dominance and control over every aspect of her physical existence.
